Reactions and Ruminations on Max Neuhaus' "Times Square"
2.28.07 7:00 pm
I just stepped off the grate between 45th & 46th Sts. on the island centered in Times Square, after some hesitation. It's not that the experience was particularly hypnotic, but for the first time I was paying attention to a sound that happens because of the sounds happening around it. Certainly the build up of the day's events must have gradually brought the vibrating chamber below to where its sonic point was at the time I arrived. This is what I contemplated as I took it in. The sound was not nearly as loud as the sound of traffic or people passing by (contrary to what I expected based on sources that said it was "competitive" with the surrounding environment), but for those who do take notice it can offer a point of focus in a sea of randomness and be quite full sounding (I unfortunately was the only one who took notice - an entourage of prep school boys also stood on the grate for a while but didn't seem to be taking notice - I think Neuhaus states he hopes for 50% not to notice, though in that instant it was about 95%).
I began by standing in the center and keeping still for 5 minutes to see if anything changed... mostly what changed was the perspective, where at moments the strength of the signal was "leaning" a little more to the left. After a couple times where this happened I gave in and turned to the left and experienced the sound much stronger - even though I was still standing in the same place, my orientation made a difference in the experience. At its strongest, the bassy fundamental frequency came through optimally. If I started to walk in a circle around the grate, the effect wasn't instantaneous, but I perceived different emphases on different frequencies at different positions - the 12th, the double octave, the 3rd above that, etc. When a subway train passed underneath, I said "here it comes", but again, I think the sound generation is more gradual than that. The character of the sound is steely but warm and resonant at the same time, that is, it never felt harsh like a power tool, but low and vibratory like a battery-powered massage implement.
I would have to classify this installation (as I'm annoyingly prone to do) as the kind of art that makes you think about our relationship to the modern world, and the questions you ask as a result - in turn these generate emotional responses, rather than a direct emotional intervention by the piece itself. There is obviously a deep conceptual bent behind it, and while on the one hand it says something about modernity and noise, on the other hand it makes reference to the older concept of turning one's focus to the natural world - or rather the world of "non-intentionally musically" created sounds - and the psychoacoustic and philosophical repercussions that come with doing so. It's also a statement with slightly egalitarian undertones, that art should no longer have to be a commodity to be bought, dissected and analyzed, but shared by all on one's on watch and experienced to whatever extent one chooses.